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Helicopter Over Montecito?

Has anyone else been noticing these low flying helicopters? I figured there must be a manhunt or something but I can't find any news about it. Yesterday I was at the zoo and two helicopters were flying in low circles over the east side for about an hour. Today there is another very low one in montecito I noticed. Anyone know what this is related to? Some kind of GPS mapping or something?

Yesterday, hovering over Coyote Road and today over Vons - Hwy 101, , does anyone have a lead on what is going on? Criminal activity? Paparazzi? Both?

Anyone know why a helicopter has been hovering at a low altitude over Montecito?

24 Comments

Hey, I just wanted to report a helicopter flew overhead this morning (Noleta East area). Don't know what colour it was or if it had any specialized equipment underneath... just heard it. Thought you'd all like to know.

I contacted SoCal Gas and this was their reply:
Good Morning
While I don’t have direct information of our surveying of gas lines in your neighborhood, we do definitely use helicopters for such activities. I’ve checked your street and there is a gas line that would be checked in such a way. I’m confident it was our helicopter. Thank you for contacting us.
Ruben Gonzalez
Gas Ops-FOS II
Northwest Region
Santa Barbara District
SoCal Gas
805-689-3007

Just to clear things up a little...red and white, Mission Cyn yesterday-power poles, blue and white, likely the one Roger saw yesterday and maybe D8 (though she didn't state the color) over La Cumbre Plaza is one I saw running traverses today over that same area, says Surveys on it and the latest the Jet Ranger doing surveys as SB Observer noted here.

This helicopter (identical to the one in the photo here) first showed up flying very low over my house at 11:00 a.m. today. It looked to be less than 1,000 feet up. After that it flew in and out of Montecito for four hours. It was flying low and sideways very slowly, kind of a creepy vibe, like a dystopian sci fi movie or something. It has some kind of camera hanging below the nose and it looked like it was taking video or photographs. There were no wires underneath- it was not one of the ring net installer people. From FlightRadar24 the tail number is N2295F.

They are doing survey's of the water lines. Likely the South Coast pipeline that connects Cachuma to Carp which runs through SB, Montecito and Summerland. The pipeline runs near 192 until it hits Ortega Ridge when it drops down through Summerland.

I also saw the same helicopter pictured (black with a vertical gold band and something attached to its nose) slowly flying low and hovering in the Montecito area near the Montecito Country Club. I too wonder what it's doing.

No, it's red and white, not like any of the the tri-county or LA; Sheriff, Fire, CHP, Police or Coast Guard. It had SCE signs on it while it was replacing poles and they were removed ( obviously magnetic ) when it headed back south. They being contractors put the signs on while working for Edison so folks won't wonder what's going on.

It's not SB Co Fire (308) or Sheriff, emblem on the side looked like SCE and the back and forth trips make it highly likely that it's setting power poles. Sources: Nikon Monarch M511 10x42 and 75 year old eyes.